Hellboy II: The Golden Army

• Rajeev
• July 11, 2008
• movies
• reviews
• no comments
• ★★★★

This summer has seen a lot of comic book movies. The problem with most of them is that they have the habit of taking themselves too seriously, an operatic drama that forgets its comic book roots. In contrast, it is sometimes nice to see a comic book movie that knows where its pulpy roots lie and is not shy to show them off. Yes Hellboy II has the requisite smashing and dazzling, but even though it finds itself layered in myths and the occult, through Guillermo del Toro's directing it manages to shrug off the weight of these things and provide the audience with unbridled fun, seemingly lost in the other comic book franchises.

Hellboy II is a continuation of Mr. del Toro's roller-coaster original Hellboy and like most of del Toro's films the design and characters of his movies are truly the highlight. In Hancock Charlize Theron picked up a semi and used it to hammer down upon everyone's beloved Will Smith. It was a dazzling feat that ultimately showed off the inadequacy of computers and programmers to mimic the human form and its movements. In contrast, the highlight of Hellboy II's action sequence finds our protagonist jumping from car to car with a very large gun in one hand and a baby in the other. At the same time he is attempting to escape what is essentially a large tree, which could have easily come from one of Mr. Miyazaki's movies. However, instead of focusing on the scene or its effects, one is enraptured in the fight of the hero and his difficult decision to kill off the last of a species, as unique as himself. This large tree is neither good nor bad and for all the ridiculousness and humor of seeing a large red man jumping over cars, there is still a humanity underneath in both the scene and the characters that trumps all else. Everything works to serve these ends and it is thus that this movie is good.

To explain the plot of Hellboy II would require a few paragraphs of words, suffice it to say that a bunch of radical elves want to teach humanity some humility and Hellboy is there to stop the inevitable destruction that could ensue. However, knowing Hellboy, he causes a substantial amount of destruction in his wake. For all its convolutedness the plot is essentially a trip from point A to point B, thankfully lacking the twists and turns and double-crosses from other movies this summer. Mr. del Toro seems to be gearing up for his large task of tackling The Hobbit as elves, trolls and dwarves all make an appearance in this movie. The plot maybe largely nonsensical, but it is surely fun and constantly touching, establishing that it is through its characters that it will move along the story.

Indeed, what characters they are! A number of them recur from the previous movie and our titular hero is the gruff sergeant, with a teenager trapped inside, trapped in a demon's body. Yes, he is a number of things and this constant conflict between all of these elements illicits the humor for the movie. New characters are introduced as well, including a puff of gas trapped in a diving suit. Our villains in particular do their job well. Luke Goss, who plays the angry elf, does a good job as both temptation and stick to Hellboy. Our returning characters grow as well. Abe falls in love, Hellboy and Liz continue their love and both of them develop their relationship through the movie's running time. By the end, things change for all the characters, but they strike home over cans of beer and Barry Manilow songs.

Of course the best part about a del Toro movie are the designs, both characters and sets. There is innovation everywhere, from a flashback with puppets, to creatures with eyes varying in number and places. In this movie, with the help of Mike Magnolia, del Toro has used the extra budget to open up his notebook and imagination to the audience. Unfortunately, sometimes this feels like a hodge-podge of ideas forming in to an uneven catharsis, unlike Pan's Labryinth, where everything worked towards a purpose. Still, there are wonders to behold in del Toro's world and the audience is there to be wowed with computer images that are at once both familiar and yet alien, the perfect realm for CGI. Even in these imaginative moments is warmth and humor, always present and never forgotten.

Hellboy II is a fine movie, that suffers from a few faults, but makes up for them in spades. It is at once both fun and incredibly busy, calling for less engagement and more of a passive ride. This ride is full of wonders and amazements that Guillermo del Toro's imagination has conjured. It is complex, without being melodramatic, and touching, while still maintaing a constant frantic and violent pace. In other words, del Toro has indeed hit it home with a geeky, clever and artful comic book film.